The Great Famine which occurred in Ireland
between 1845-50 had a drastic and long lasting effect upon the people of
Ireland. It is known today as the Great Famine to distinguish it from the
previous famines which had plagued Ireland and also because it was the
worse famine Ireland had ever experienced. In all, a million people died
from starvation or disease and as many emigrated out of Ireland. What made
matters worse was the political climate of the day in which the government,
in Westminster, took a laissez
faire approach in dealing with the economy and Ireland as a
whole. According to this theory, the government should not interfere with
the economy’s natural flow of supply and demand. In addition the government
believed that the landlords, businessmen, and investors would protect their
economic prosperity by not allowing their workers to starve. Unfortunately,
the landlords, investors, and businessmen were cold and unsympathetic to
the working poor and quickly evicted those who could not afford to pay
their rent. The government's reluctance in dealing with this problem head
on made the consequences much worse for the Irish people.

The government in Westminster was not the sole cause of
the famine, however. It may have added fuel to the fire, but it did not
light the match. The tragedy of the Great Famine that occurred in Ireland
might have occurred in any agricultural society. The policies that the
government issued, prior to and during the famine, may not have been the
best actions to take, but to blame the English government is misleading
and inaccurate.

Many people blamed the government for allowing the people
to starve, while exporting food from Ireland. The economic climate was
so severe that had the government not exported those goods, therefore bringing
money back into the economy, more severe consequences would have occurred.
Currently, in the United States, food is being exported when there are
thousands of starving people living on the streets of America. This does
not stop our government from exporting food from the United States. Policies
have existed for centuries and will continue to do so. A government without
revenue will collapse.

The Act
of Union in 1801 is important legislation to understand because of
the consequences it had for 19th century Ireland, and also because it explains
why the English government controlled all of Ireland. The Prime Minister
at that time was William
Pitt the Younger who believed that uniting the parliaments of Britain
and Ireland would raise the Irish standard of living through British investment
in Ireland. At the same time, it would give the Protestants in Ireland
(and England) a majority within the government. After the Act of Union,
one hundred of the 658 members of the House of Commons representatived
Irish constituencies. Before the Act of Union, the parliament in Ireland
was subordinate to the government of England, much like the assemblies
of the American colonies before the Revolutionary War.(1)
Tensions had been brewing in Ireland between the Protestants and the Catholics
for many years. By giving the Protestants the majority, where they previously
were in the minority, Pitt believed would win support for an Act of Union.
In 1800 the Act of Union was passed and Ireland became part of Great Britain.(2)

Various rebellions had broken out throughout Ireland,
prior to the passage of the Act
of Union, in which Theobald
Wolfe Tone's rebellious United
Irishmen fought for independence and Catholic emancipation. To make
matters worse Napoleon had sent a few French
forces to aid the rebels in Ireland. Ultimately they were defeated,
but this outbreak of unrest made Pitt and other officials take notice that
Ireland was a political problem that could no longer be ignored. Thus by
joining Ireland and Britain each would come to the others aid in times
of crisis and alleviate some of the economic and religious tension within
Ireland.(3)

By 1798 (remembered in Ireland as "the
year of the French"), political unrest flowed throughout the streets
of France and Ireland. As instability increased throughout France for political
reform (brought on by the War with England in the 1790) so too did the
spread of discontent in Ireland. The United Irishmen, who were influenced
by the political unrest in France, was a powerful enough organization for
the English government to pay closer attention to Ireland.(4)

Irish Catholics had good reason for their anger and frustration
with the Protestants in Ireland. Throughout the 18th century, "Penal
Laws" had been passed which discriminated against the Catholic
community, preventing them from holding government positions, becoming
members of parliament, commissions in the army and navy, requiring them
to make payments to the established Anglican Church, along with various
other restrictions. By the end of the 18th century the British government
knew some type of Catholic relief was in order, to prevent further rebellions.
Between the American Revolution and the war with France, British officials
realized they not only needed the extra manpower to fight the war, they
also knew they could not afford yet another outbreak of Catholic unrest.
They especially did not need the Catholics in France to ally themselves
with the Irish Catholics, forming a powerful alliance against England.
Although most of the Penal Laws were repealed by the end of the 18th century,
the struggle for equality was not over. The 19th century's prejudicial
attitude toward Catholics continues to this day in Northern Ireland.(5)

In the fall of 1845, alarming reports began to come in,
throughout the country, about the failure of potato crop. Sir
Robert Peel, the British Prime Minister, established a Scientific
Commission to determine if any of the harvested potatoes could be salvaged.
The commission estimated that half of all the potatoes harvested had been
or would be destroyed, but oddly enough the problem was not universal.
Where one farm may have harvested a bad crop the neighboring farm may have
had a good crop. Peel made inquires about a possible inexpensive substitute
for the potato, something that might carry the masses through the winter.
He decided that Indian
corn would be the cheapest substitute.(6)

By November a temporary Relief
Commission was established, with Sir
Randolph Routh as its chairman. To relieve the situation, Indian corn
was brought in from the United States to be sold cheaply at Government
depots. The problem was that there
had not been a market for Indian corn previously and the corn was only
distributed when given permission by the Westminster government (when general
food prices rose too high). Once the corn did go on sale riots broke out.
According to Routh, “…high price is the only criterion by which consumption
can be economized."(7)
Sir Robert Peel (pictured here), along with Irish representatives, wanted
to repeal the Corn
Laws, thus removing protective duties on grain imported from England
and elsewhere to reduce the price of grain products.(8)
The Corn Laws were not repealed until 1846 under Lord
John Russell and the Whig government.

Charles
Trevelyan, the permanent Head of Treasury, rejected Indian corn cargo
believing it was unnecessary. Trevelyan, along with Lord John Russell who
had became Prime Minister in 1846, were strong believers in the idea that
the government should not involve itself with the natural flow of supply
and demand.(9)
In 1846, reports came in of an expected good harvest that fall so Trevelyan
did not order more Indian corn for any of the already empty depots and
closed depots that still had corn. The situation only got worse under Russell,
because the second successive crop was blighted as well. This time the
blight was brought over by American steamships that exported to Europe.(10)
Once it became apparent that the 1846 harvest was bad as well. Trevelyan
stated, in his explanation for closing the depots, that "The only
way to prevent people from becoming habitually dependent on government
is to bring operations to a close."(11)

As more devastating reports came in about the ‘46 harvest,
Trevelyan realized he had to do something about the situation. Potatoes
had been a main staple for the Irish, particularly for the lower classes
who could not afford much else. By the 1840s land holdings were subdivided
and sublet four to five times from the initial landlord, therefore making
a families farm (and consequently their harvest and profits) even smaller.
Many families could barely afford to buy potatoes as it was because they
had to sell their crops to pay the rent. In Britain, the potato crop had
been affected by the same disease, however, the lower classes were better
off and could afford to buy a substitute for potatoes.(12)

Land had long been a problem in Ireland. The population
had been increasing so rapidly that by the early 1800s, the land was not
sufficient enough to feed everyone and make a living off it as well. Farmers
had to sell nearly all of their crops just to pay the rent, leaving them
with barely enough food to feed their families. As competition for land
increased so too did the rent of the land. Conditions for the poor farmers
got worse. As rent increased the acreage a family could farm shrank.(13)
The Act of Union, intended to raise the Irish standard of living, made
the situation worse for the lower class. The landlords' standard of living
initially improved through increased rent rates. If the concern of the
government was not to have its people dependent upon the government for
handouts, more efforts should have been made to create a stronger, self-sufficient
lower class.

By 1841, two-thirds of the population was dependent upon
agriculture for its livelihood.(14)
The government therefore believed the landlords would relieve the workers'
distress in order to maintain their own high standard of living. While
there were some landlords who did allow their tenants to consume the food
they normally used for rent, most would evicted tenants who could not pay
the rent.(15)
The farming methods had not been modernized either, which might have alleviated
some of the problems as well. But had the farmers improved their crop yields,
the landlords would have increased the rent.(16)

Trevelyan finally made Indian corn available cheaply,
but none of this came until after Christmas of 1846 and by then reports
came in of deaths due to starvation. Once the Public Works did get under
way its primary concern was for the construction of roads, lowering hills,
and filling in hollows. Not only were these roads unnecessary, but also
the wages paid to the exhausted and starving workers were low and some
were not paid for two weeks.(17)
The government, believing this would alleviate some of the problem by getting
people back to work without the government directly handing out free food,
only made matters worse. Most of the workers were so malnourished and weak
that such strenuous work only made them weaker. Also having these new roads
and nicely landscaped countryside only made it easier for people to travel
from town to town in search of food, in the process spreading diseases
throughout Ireland.

In 1846 Lord
John Russell, head of the Whig party, won the election and became the
new Prime Minister. Russell, along with the Whig party, was much in favor
of the current laissez faire philosophy, so there was not too much hope
of improvement for the starving people of Ireland. To make matters worse,
there were those in England who believed the Irish were exaggerating the
situation. In December of 1846 a Government
Commissariat was sent to Skibbereen
to investigate, and found 169 deaths due to starvation in a three-week
period. (What happened at Skibbereen prompted the composition of a folk
song, a lament,
which is sung even today - more than a century later). Throughout Ireland
the death toll had been rising so quickly that the dead lie in the streets
in piles, having not enough coffins to have a proper burial.(18)
Again this only helped to spread more diseases throughout the towns.

Thomas Campell Foster was appointed commissioner by The
Times of London
to investigate the claims of the famine. The people on the west coast in
county Donegal, Foster reported, had only themselves to blame. The people
divided and subdivided their land until there was not enough land for each
family to make a living. Along the east coast, however, life was much more
prosperous. "For the poverty and distress and misery which exist,
the people have themselves to blame," according to Foster.(19)
Perhaps it was only coincidental that those along the east coast were predominately
Protestant and least dependent upon agriculture (especially the potato
crop) for their survival.(20)

If death by starvation did not kill you, chances were
that the fever or typhus would. By 1847, the fever spread throughout Ireland,
passed on by people fleeing from one town to another. Eventually the fever
and famine spread to the upper classes, priests and doctors particularly,
who had come into direct contact with infected people.(21)
The upper classes could at least afford a proper burial for their loved
ones, however, while the bodies of masses laid in piles on the streets.

When Trevelyan did allow the depots to sell Indian corn,
he sold them at five percent higher than the going price of the time. By
March 1847, however, conditions worsened, congregations were reduced by
half, and people were dying daily by the thousands. The government, acting
under the assumption that the next harvest would be a good one, also knew
they had to do something in the meantime. The Soup
Kitchen Act which was passed by Parliament provided that free soup
and other rations be distributed. Unfortunately, the food was slow to appear.
In the county of Mayo, for example, in eighteen days only four days of
rations were distributed.(22)Although the intention of the government may have
been good, the result was increased tension among the Irish people themselves.

By July 1847, the Soup Kitchen Act had taken off and relief
reached nearly half of the population in Ireland. The harvest that summer
and fall was relatively good, according to those in England. The secretary
to the Relief Commission wrote to Trevelyan suggesting the relief efforts
were being abused by the lower classes, making them accustomed to handouts.
Since the treasury department, thus including Trevelyan, had to answer
to the rate payers in England, relief under the Soup Kitchen Act ended
by September 1847.(23)

The government was continually contradicting itself in
its policies for Ireland and the Irish, especially considering that under
the Act of Union in 1801 the English government was to protect and enhance
the standard of living in Ireland. For example,
the Poor Law legislation was intended to give grants, with interest, to
workhouses
which would in turn employ those able to work. These employees would then
be paid with food and a place to stay. The workhouses were also allowed
to give relief to those living outside of the workhouses. All of this sounds
like a good idea, but there was a condition added which stipulated that
no one who owned more that a quarter of an acre of land was eligible for
this program. This only added to the already large number of landlord evictions
because those who were starving on a little over an acre of land now had
to give up their land to live on or get food through the workhouses. Adding
to those already evicted from their homes and land a few years earlier
when the rent increased, those who gave up their land after the Poor Law
legislation, were thousands more men, women, and children now in the streets
and fields in search of food. And again the spread of fever and typhus
was accelerated.(24)

We foresee that the rural population- particularly along
the coast will pour itself into the workhouses. The necessity will be stronger
than last year. The houses can not contain them all. Nor can the ratepayer
pay for them all. We should not wonder if these workhouses became the charnel
houses of the whole rural population.(25)

The December 22, 1849 issue of the The
Illustrated London Newsreported that "The system intended
to relieve the poor, by making the landlord responsible for their welfare,
has at once made it in the interest, and therefore the duty, of the landlords
to get rid of them."(26)
These predictions were soon fulfilled. Poor Law unions became bankrupt
due to the overwhelming numbers of people flocking to them in hope of food
and work.

Many local landlords, who had the heaviest financial burden
as the ratepayers, soon became bankrupt which added to an already dire
situation. As the situation grew worse those in Westminster believed they
had done all they could to help the people of Ireland. Trevelyan described
the situation of increased population and famine as "...the operation
of natural causes." Believing there was nothing left to do, Trevelyan
left for two weeks vacation to France.(27)

Thousands of people began to emigrate to other countries
in hopes of a better life. In 1847 a quarter of a million people fled Ireland
and as many, if not more, in the following years. The sheer number of who
died during the famine and those who emigrated out of Ireland, permanently
altered the social structure of Ireland. All classes tried to escape
from Ireland into Canada or the United States, although many of the poorest
people never went beyond the English port of Liverpool.
Conditions on board the "coffin
ships" were as bad as what they had fled in Ireland. Overcrowded
decks with little water, few rations, and the threat of catching the fever
took their toll and many people died at sea.(28)

Another impact the famine had upon Ireland was its Gaelic
tradition and language. In the most Gaelic parts of the country, Mayo and
Kerry for example, the population dropped by half. Along with the increased
use of the English language among political leaders, like Daniel
O’Connell and the Young
Ireland Party, the purity and richness of the language had been lost.(29)

Many historians debate the causes of the famine and the
number of those who died or emigrated out of Ireland. But what can not
be disputed is the profound effect the Great Famine had upon its people,
the culture, and traditions of Ireland. According to
the census
of 1851, between 1845-1850 over two million people either died or emigrated
out of Ireland. Many of the emigrants died in transit, and more than five
thousand of them remain buried in the mass graves of Grosse-Ile
in the St. Lawrence river, northeast of Quebec City, commemorated there
by a high Celtic cross ... like the ones they had left behind in Ireland.
The famine also had a great impact on the other nations, like the United
States, to which thousands of Irish fled. Regardless of the disputed beliefs
as to the causes of the Great Famine, the lives that were touched by it
will never be the same. People today still feel the impact that was left
by the Great Famine and this will continue into future generations.

8. Great
Irish Famine Event-1845 - Timeline (http://www.famine.ie/census/1845.html).
In 1839, the Anti-Corn League was founded, in which the industrial middle
class mobilized against the landlords. Richard
Cobden, the league’s leader, was able to influence Sir Robert Peel
to ally himself with their movement. Once the failure of the potato crop
became evident in November of 1845, Peel was in full support of repealing
the Corn Laws.